Children of Time
' |image= |series= |production=40510-520 |producer(s)= |story=Gary Holland and Ethan H. Calk |script=René Echevarria |director=Allan Kroeker |imdbref=tt0708516 |guests=Gary Frank as Yedrin Dax, Jennifer S. Parsons as Miranda, Davida Williams as Lisa, Doren Fein as Molly |previous_production=Soldiers of the Empire |next_production=Blaze of Glory |episode=DS9 S05E22 |airdate= 5 May 1997 |previous_release=(DS9) Soldiers of the Empire (Overall) Distant Origin |next_release=(DS9) Blaze of Glory (Overall) Displaced |story_date(s)=50814.2 (2373) |previous_story=Distant Origin |next_story=Displaced }} Summary In the Gamma Quadrant, Dax insists on investigating a planet surrounded by an energy barrier. But the barrier cripples the Defiant and causes Kira to be "duplicated" for a moment — she will die without eventual medical attention back on Deep Space Nine. A colony lives on the planet, and the leader, Miranda O'Brien, reveals that in two days, when the Defiant departs, the barrier will cause the ship to crash on the planet — 200 years in the past. Stranded for life, the crew will found this colony. The planet, Gaia, is populated by their descendants! Sisko realizes that this foreknowledge will allow his crew to now avoid that crash, but by altering history, the colony will cease to exist. However, Dax's descendant, Yedrin, has a plan to duplicate the Defiant when it reenters the barrier, allowing the original crew to return home while the duplicate crew can fulfill its destiny by crashing on the planet. Odo's older self is still alive after 200 years, and looks more human. He reveals to a stunned Kira that he has always been in love with her. Meanwhile, Dax learns Yedrin's real plan is to recreate the crash, ensuring that his people do survive. Yedrin admits that, as the current host of the Dax symbiont, he feels responsible to protect the society Jadzia's judgment error helped to create. Sisko sympathizes, but will not sacrifice Kira's life or ask his crew to leave behind their own lives just to guarantee the continued existence of their descendants. However, Kira feels they can't run away from their destiny — even if that means she has to die. Sisko is still unwilling to passively let history repeat itself. He and his sad crew join their descendants for a planting ritual on what will be their final day of existence. O'Brien becomes deeply moved by their plight. Unable to bear the thought of them vanishing, he and the others realize they can't let these people die. The older Odo tries to convince Kira to not sacrifice herself, but Sisko's people prepare to recreate the crash and face their destiny. However, at the crucial moment, the Defiant veers off course — someone changed the flight plan. They safely exit the barrier, and their descendants vanish as if they never existed. Later, the "real" Odo reveals to Kira that it was the older Odo who sabotaged the ship — sacrificing the colony just to give Kira and his younger self a chance at love. After this shocking revelation, the old friends wonder where their relationship will go next. Errors and Explanations Internet Movie Database Plot holes # Given its proximity to Dominion space, it is unlikely that the colony would have been left unmolested by Jem'Hadar for 200 years. The energy barrier could have either hidden the colony from the Jem’Hadar, destroyed any JH ship that tried to penetrate it, or both. # The settlement on Gaia seems to appear the moment the Defiant passes through the energy barrier. However, it is not actually this passage, but the encounter with the temporal anomaly and the subsequent crash landing in the past that leads to the colony's creation. Since that accident hasn't happened yet, the colony should not appear at this stage yet. Although, of course, there would then be no story. This could be due to some type of temporal flux effect. Incorrectly regarded as goofs # We find out that Odo was infected with the morphogenic virus during the events of Homefront/Paradise Lost in When It Rains… Yet he was subsequently "cured" of the virus after being turned into a human in Broken Link, so that even after he got his shapeshifting abilities back, he may not have been affected by the virus in this one. Odo would later be reinfected with the same virus by the female Changeling in Behind the Lines. EAS # What reconnaissance mission could be so vital that DS9 may be unshepherded with the complete senior crew gone for weeks, while the Dominion could attack any time? The station is not shown once in this whole episode, by the way. They could be checking for new Dominion staging bases. Nit Central # Chris Booton on Friday, December 11, 1998 - 10:44 pm: The dialogue here seems to indicate that no-one died in the crash! I find that hard to believe. Well, the Defiant is a tough ship! # In the past Odo could have contacted the founders, then they could have gotten onto a ship the founders sent and gone into the wormhole and asked the prophets to send them into the future where they belong, that way they could still crash and get home! Too risky – the Founders could have decided to destroy the survivors, traverse the wormhole and launch a full scale invasion of the Alpha Quadrant! Category:Episodes Category:Deep Space Nine